Bulldogs Host Union Saturday at Noon

Sep 02, 2010

Pre-Season Scrimmage at the Bowl

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Practice started two
weeks ago and the Yale Football Team is ready to hit something
other than Blue and White. The 2010 Bulldogs get that opportunity
Saturday at noon when Union College comes to Yale Bowl and the
Class of 1954 Field for a scrimmage (free admission).

This is the annual pre-season scrimmage, typically held on Labor
Day Weekend, which has included opponents like the Dutchmen,
Princeton, Plymouth State, New Hampshire, Villanova and others over
the years. Other than switching sites every year with Princeton
during most of the Jack Siedlecki era, almost every pre-season
scrimmage has been held at Yale Bowl.

The plan is for three quarters of this Saturday's
scrimmage to be run like a regular game with the rest situations
the coaches are looking to work on. Rosters for both teams will be
available in a few spots around the stadium.

The Bulldogs, 4-6 in 2009 under Tom Williams, the Joel E. Smilow
'54 Head Coach of Football, have to wait two more weeks to
start the 2010 regular season. Georgetown comes to New Haven on
Sept. 18 for a noon kickoff.

"When you go against each other [Blue vs. White], you
recognize the tendencies. It will be great to run things against
someone else," said Williams. "You know what they say,
familiarity breeds contempt."

Union is coming off an 8-3 (6-1 conference) record that included
wins in three of its last four games in 2009. The Dutchmen open
next Saturday at Ithaca College.

"We respect what they [Union] have done as a team and a
program and we know they will come here excited to play us in the
Yale Bowl," said the Yale head coach.

Yale's mid afternoon practices gave way to 7:30 a.m.
workouts the day classes began this week, and it appears the Elis
are ready to hit and get hit by someone else. Starting positions
and backup jobs could be impacted by Saturday's performance
as the coaches make evaluations to determine their depth
charts.

"We've reached that point where we are starting to
push each other around and tempers are short," said Williams.
"It will be great for them to take out some of that
frustration on someone else."